Manga Mondays: I’m 22 and What Is This?

For this week, let’s take a foray into the world of sci-fi by looking at Hiroyuki Utatane and Toshiya Takeda’s Seraphic Feather. As with most sci-fi stories, the world is expansive as well as the story, but there is a clear focus on three main characters, and through this the plot is weaved. One is that of Sunao Oumi: a young man who works on a human colony on the moon in memory of his dear friend Kei. He is also considered a “paranormal” which, in this case, refers to him being able to move things with his mind. He’s the guy in the story that is a blatant reader-insert character meaning that he doesn’t know why half the things happening around him are unfolding the way they are and that he seems to want things to go back into a more normal pace once shit starts hitting the fan.

Then we have Apep Heidemann who is, for all intents and purposes, playing the role of the fallen god in this story. Angel wings and all. He is what I assume is a scientist however he is preforming illegal experiments under the guise of aiding the U.N. (the government of the comic). And what kind of sci-fi would it be if there weren’t aliens thrown in there? Yes, Apep is studying the power hidden behind the organic-looking flesh mounds dubbed “starships” and their emblem stones—their power transmission systems. Needless to say, Apep’s all about keeping the stones to himself and becoming even more powerful.

Finally, we follow in the shadows of the beautiful assassin, Attim M-Zak, who is taking care of the ditzy and horridly cliché Kei Heidemann. She works for the U.N. And is the closest thing to a strong female character in the series. She also suffers from some form of amnesia that falls under the “plot-important” kind.